Websites of several major airports in the United States were knocked offline due to a series of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks reportedly orchestrated by a pro-Russia hacktivist group known as KillNet.
The attack affected the websites of Los Angeles International (LAX), Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD), and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL) airport, which is the busies airport in the US. Other impacted airports include Orlando International Airport (MCO), Denver International Airport (DIA), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), as well as some in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Hawaii. It appears that the attack had no impact on the affected airports’ flight operations.
On Monday, October 10, the group published a list of the US airports on their Telegram channel urging other hackers to participate in DDoS attacks aimed at the targets’ websites. It’s not clear how many airports were actually hit, or whether all of them suffered disruptions.
Last week, KillNet also took responsibility for a series of DDoS attacks that temporarily disrupted a number of American state government websites.
Active since March 2022, KillNet is known for its cyberattacks against supporters of Ukraine, including Italy, Romania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and other countries that condemned the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.